Thursday, February 4, 2010

What violations of the fair credit reporting act are occuring when a collection agency reports false info?

For the past 4 years a collection agency has been placing an account on my file that is not mine. I asked them to remove it and the ';supervisor'; I spoke with got a very nasty attitude with me and hung up. When I called back I heard her yelling obscenities about me to the person I was talking to, and then she began to berate me. If not for her bad attitude I would have been content with them just removing the item. But now I feel they should pay damages.What violations of the fair credit reporting act are occuring when a collection agency reports false info?
It sounds like you have always done this over the phone. If you have nothing in writing even if they were violating it you would have no proof.





So the first thing you must do is send in a dispute to the Credit Reporting Agency. They have 30-45 days to verify the debt(depending on how you got your report). If it is not verified it will be removed from your report.





If it is verified you need to send a debt validation letter to the collection agency. They have 30 days to respond to the validation request or you can have it removed from your credit report. They can not put it back on your credit report until they validate the debt.





The important part to this is that you must send the debt validation by certified mail with a return receipt, as that will be the only proof accepted.





If they do validate it you then need to take additional steps. The link below talks about the debt validation process.What violations of the fair credit reporting act are occuring when a collection agency reports false info?
FIrst, you have to prove that the info is false in a court. If all you have is your word against some other wittness, you might convince a court that the info can not be proven, but not provably false.





A court might agree that you do not have to pay, but at the same time agree with them that they had not falsified any information.


So tread carefully and avoid inflammatory accusations that you may not be able to prove.
I agree. You need to contact the collection agency AND the credit reporting agency IN WRITING. They won't feel compelled to cooperate until you have it in writing. Certified mail would be best.
When you pull your credit report you can dispute items- which will be listed on your credit report that you dispute it. Plus If she was yelling obscenities, I would report her to the Better Business Bureau.

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